2000 Women's Pro Softball League season

In October 1999, the WPSL announced a restructuring plan to consolidate the league and to facilitate a tour between the league's teams and the USA Softball Women's National Team. The plan was to take the 1999 roster of teams ( Akron Racers, Carolina Diamonds, Durham Dragons, Georgia Pride, Tampa Bay FireStix, and Virginia Roadsters) and reduce it to two teams in Ohio and two teams in Florida. The tour of exhibition games against team USA was called "From Central Park to Sydney" (the 2000 Olympics were played in Sydney, Australia) and ran from May to September.^[1]

The WPSL's two Florida teams were revealed as the Tampa Bay Firestix and Florida Wahoos, and the Ohio teams as the Akron Racers and Ohio Pride. These locations in Florida and Ohio were intended to be developed as national training centers for fastpitch softball.^[2]

On October 14, 1999 WPSL suspended operations of the Georgia Pride, Durham Dragons, Carolina Diamonds, and Virginia Roadsters. The contracted Roadsters' players were assigned to the newly created Ohio Pride of Akron, Ohio. The contracted Georgia Pride players were assigned to the expansion Florida Wahoos of Plant City, Fla. Tampa Bay FireStix relocated to Plant City Stadium in Plant City, Fla.^[3] The players of the Dragons and Diamonds became available for selection in the 2000 WPSL draft.

Player Drafts

Further information: 2000 WPSL Draft

WPSL held Draft Day 2000 on December 4 at the Tradewinds Resort in St. Petersburg, FL during the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Convention. Three drafts were held:^[4]

• The 2000 Elite/Supplemental Draft selected players from a pool of players on the rosters of the Dragons and Diamonds, 1999 USA Softball Olympic Trial and Olympic Festival invitees who had completed their collegiate eligibility, and WPSL players who were not on their teams' protected list. The Florida Wahoos selected Fresno State shortstop Nina Lindenburg as the first elite/supplemental pick.
• The 2000 Senior Draft selected from collegiate senior fastpitch players. The Ohio Pride chose Fresno State pitcher Amanda Scott as the first senior pick.
• The 2001 National Team Draft drew from the 2000 USA Olympic roster, with the hope the players selected would play in the WPSL in 2001. (However, the WPSL suspended play before the 2001 season.) The Akron Racers selected 1996 Olympic Gold Medal-winning pitcher Lisa Fernandez as the first overall National Team pick.

As part of the run-up to the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, a nine-city tour, called “Central Park to Sydney Tour,” was scheduled between WPSL teams and the USA national softball team. USA pitcher Lisa Fernandez pitched five straight perfect games, and in one of those games she struck out all 21 batters.^[5]

Tour schedule and results

More information DATE, TEAMS ...

DATE	TEAMS	STADIUM	LOCATION[6]
Friday, June 2	USA Softball 1, Florida Wahoos 0[7]	Jim Frost Stadium[8]	Chattanooga, TN
Friday, June 9	USA Softball 1, Akron Racers 0[9]	Firestone Stadium	Akron, OH
Sunday, June 25	USA Softball 1, Tampa Bay FireStix 0[10]	Plant City Stadium	Plant City, FL
Saturday, July 1	USA Softball 7, Ohio Pride 0[11]	Frank DeLuca Hall of Fame Field	Stratford, CT
Sunday, July 16	USA Softball 2, Akron Racers 1[12]	Husky Stadium	Seattle, WA
Sunday, July 23	USA Softball 2, Florida Wahoos 0[13]	Bulldog Diamond (renamed Margie Wright Stadium in 2014)	Fresno, CA
Thursday, July 27	USA Softball 2, Ohio Pride 0[14]	ASA Hall of Fame Stadium	Oklahoma City, OK
Saturday, August 12	USA Softball 3, Tampa Bay FireStix 1[15]	O'Neil Park	Bloomington, IL
Saturday, September 2	USA Softball 1, WPSL All-Stars 0[16]	Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium	Honolulu, HI
Sunday, September 3	USA Softball 1, WPSL All-Stars 0[17]
Sunday, September 3	USA Softball 10, WPSL All-Stars 0 (ended in 6th inning due to 'mercy' rule)[18]

Close

Source:

The 2000 WPSL Championship Series was held at Meador Park in Springfield, Mo on August 25 and 26. The top two WPSL teams met in a best-of-three series to determine the champion.^[19]

Summarize Fact Check

WOMEN'S PRO SOFTBALL LEAGUE LEADERS (THROUGH GAMES OF 8/19/00)^[22]

BATTING TOP 10 (MINIMUM 76 PLATE APPEARANCES)

HOME RUNS

RBI

STOLEN BASES

TEAM BATTING

TEAM PITCHING

PITCHING TOP 10 (MINIMUM 32 IP)

WINS

SAVES

STRIKEOUTS

Source:^[23]

2000 WPSL All-Star Team roster

2000 WPSL ALL-STAR ROSTER[26]
Player	Position	WPSL Team	College	Hometown
Julie Adams	3B	Ohio Pride	UCLA	Cypress, CA
Patti Benedict	OF	Florida Wahoos	Michigan	Lamont, FL
Heather Compton	P	Ohio Pride	UCLA	Santa Maria, CA
Danielle Cox	OF	Akron Racers	Florida State	Anniston, AL
Julie Crandall	C	Florida Wahoos	UNLV	San Jose, CA
Dana Degen	DP	Ohio Pride	Hawaii	La Mesa, CA
Jaime Foutch	OF/1B	Ohio Pride	Oklahoma State	Edmond, OK
Barbara Jordan	OF	Tampa Bay FireStix	CSNU	Granada Hills, CA
Steph Klaviter	P	Florida Wahoos	Minnesota	New Ulm, MN
Desarie Knipfer	P	Florida Wahoos	CP - SLO	Scotts Valley, CA
Amy Kyler	P	Akron Racers	Cleveland State	Marshallville, OH
Nina Lindenberg	SS	Florida Wahoos	Fresno State	Anaheim, CA
Kim Maher	OF	Florida Wahoos	Fresno State	Oakland, CA
Kendall Richards	3B	Florida Wahoos	Texas A&M	Eugene, OR
Julie Smith	2B	Ohio Pride	Fresno State	Glendora, CA
Kellyn Tate	OF	Akron Racers	Michigan	Chesterfield, MO

Head Coach: Cindy Bristow, Florida Wahoos

The USA Olympic softball team played a doubleheader against each NPF All-Star Team on July 13. The Olympians swept the games beating the East 5-0, and edging the West 5-3 in 9 innings.^[27] The West All-Stars beat the East by a score of 1-0 on July 14. Nancy Evans was named the Most Valuable Player.^[28]

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